The Art of Dick Grayson
by Dream HUGE
Summary: So this is basically a set of one shots about Artemis' friendship with Dick at school and how she came to find out the secret identity of the Boy Wonder! They basically all take place and center around school and for most of it Arty doesn't know who Dick is, any suggested challenges are wanted! T cause I'm paranoid! I own nothing...
1. Chapter 1

**So this is a series of one shots that all kind of correlate together, but they can all be read separately and still make since, but anyway they are basically all Artemis at school with Dick and such. A bit of Dick/Babs and Dick Artemis friendship!**

_Artemis , Gotham Academy _

To say she disliked her school would be an understatement, to say she wanted to scoop out her eyes with an arrow would also be an understatement. For words couldn't seem to really describe just how much she hated seeing the little bratty faces of all the rich kids here.

They all had everything they could every need **and **want, while the archer was stuck barely scrapping by with her wheelchair bound mother. Yes, Artemis realized she wasn't the only scholarship kid, but it was hard to tell who was and who wasn't. Whoever was here on scholarship hid at as best as they could, because let's face it getting a scholarship to one of the richest and snobbiest schools in the country is social suicide.

Although, there was one girl that didn't hid the fact she was here on scholarship. It's not like she flaunted it or anything, but it was hard for Barbara Gordon to shrug off the shadow of her father, forever alienating her from almost all the kids at school. Artemis had come to observe her, she found it intriguing actually. Barbara was pretty smart, and pretty sassy, but she was also the top gymnast, as she had learned from the multitude of trophies lining the school hallways.

And Barbara was not totally alienated; there was one boy she always hung out with. In fact it was the same black haired blue eyed boy that had taken Artemis' picture of the first day. The two seemed to click very well.

So Artemis watched, not realizing the subconciece feeling of hollowness that started to fester inside her. The fact that she was always angry with the school, because no one wanted to know her and she was fine with that really, or so she told herself. But did it matter? She was living a double life; there was no way for her to every hold a relationship or even friendship like Barbara's.

The archer did eventually find out who the boy was. And she of course felt so stupid for not realizing it before.

Dick Grayson. Orphaned acrobat, ward to Bruce Wayne billionaire.

How could she miss that? If Batman knew she had slipped up like that, letting a major detail such as the richest kid in the city pass under her nose, well then being grounded would sound like a treat compared to what the Dark Knight would have had her done. But he wasn't here, so there was nothing for her to do but feel slightly stupid.

But why would the richest kid in the city hang out with Barbara? How had they become joined at the hip?

"Scholarship kid," Artemis heard someone scoff as they passed her, waking the archer from her musing and bringing her into the harsh reality that she was back at the hell hole called Gotham Academy.

Artemis' long blonde hair whipped around as she turned to glare at the speaker. Said person kept walking, not even looking back to meet the archer's angry eyes. And that was just the start to her day.

So Artemis walked away, trying to release her anger as she walked to her locker. She couldn't let this affect her, she just couldn't. She had promised her mom no fighting. She had promised that she wouldn't come home with bloody knuckles like back when she was at Gotham North. She had to stick to it, and she also had to keep her scholarship, which would surely be yanked if she got anywhere near a fight while on campus.

At lunch, she pulled out her bag lunch, not having purchased the school food and sat at an empty table, alone, as usual. Looking down, the archer took a sandwich at and was about to take a bit when she felt something shift across from her. Preparing for the worst, after all with a father like hers who could blame her, Artemis glanced up, shifting her body in a position that would more easily allow her for an escape or fight.

She was met with two pairs of blue eyes, one a steal gray blue with a look of concern and the other a beautiful gem blue with a glitter of amusement in them. Completely caught off guard, the blonde looked around to see if maybe the two in front of her had friends waiting behind them, but no, they were alone, but that was usual for the two.

"Um," she started, mouth almost hanging open, which seemed to make the gem blue eyes brighten with unshed laughter.

"Barbara Gordon," the possessor of the steal gray blue eyes said, her hand flipping her flaming red hair over her shoulder, while her other hand was extending toward the archer who took it numbly, totally and utterly surprised and off her game.

"And that little troll is Dick Grayson," the girl continued, eyeing her younger male friend who still hadn't spoken, but now wore an amused smirk.

"Troll? That's the best you have, Babs? Come on, you can do better than that," he said with a cackle glancing at his red haired friend. "Come on even, Jeff Longley had a better name, circus freak? Although I prefer the term 'Circus Brat' much more fitting in my opinion," the black haired boy continued still smirking at the confused archer.

Barbara, noticing Artemis' confused face, continued, "Anyway, I'm in tenth grade with you, and Dickie over there is only a little freshy," she said with a smirk eyeing her shorter best friend, who in turn raised his eye taking her statement as a challenge.

"Freshmen I may be, but let's not forget who's ahead academically? And the prize would go to- who is that- oh wait that's right, ME," his voice taking on a joking tone as he pointed to himself. Then he glanced over at the blonde taking in her face and continued, planning on throwing her a curve ball because he just was a little troll like that, " And you are Artemis Crock, transfer from Gotham North," he said confidently.

Artemis looked the boy over, finally getting out of her daze at being ambushed by the two, he was puny that was for sure, and he seemed kind of self-absorbed and a little big headed, and did he really think that knowing her name and old school was something special, I mean for crying out loud she was friends with the World's greatest detectives protégé. This Dick kid got nothing on him. Artemis rolled her eyes, finally cataloging Dick into the mathlete group with his math text book resting on the table and everything, and for some reason the eye roll only made the ebony's smirk grow, the twinkle in his eye brightening.

-BREAKLING—

Life seemed up at school for the blonde archer. Well as up as you could get with a school full of snobs. Her time there had gotten better with the friendship of Dick and Barbara. Although she did start to notice more and more as she observed the two, many times from afar. Like the fact that the two were probably the single two most bullied students to ever go to Gotham Academy.

It was everywhere, 'Circus Freak', 'Charity Case', 'Scholarship Kid' and the list goes on, getting to the lesser names such as dweep or mathlete, but still she didn't understand how the two could take it, but they stuck together through the end.

And Artemis saw it one day, something she had never really seen before, the look of steel entering Dick's eyes. It had all started as the regular bulling session, but things had escalated, and the archer watched stunned about ten feet away.

"Well well well, what do we have here? The little Circus Freak, out again with that little trash of a girlfriend. Sucking out all the money from the school for charity cases like herself," said none other than Jeff Longley, the infamous school bully. Meanest kid around, or for high school at least.

The gearing laughs from his friends didn't help Dick or Barbara much who had turned away when he started talking, in fact the laughs of his friends only made he want to try harder to get the two misfits, "What's wrong, Circus boy? Mommy and daddy not here to stand up for you?" this of course got a huge reaction out of Barbara, who turned around her hand flying up to take on the bully, but was stopped by a strong grip from her ebony haired best friend.

"Awww, look his little girlfriend will stand up for him! How cute, she'll be just like her dad, standing up for all the freaks," the older and larger boy spat at the two. Barbara's face flinched slightly, not being able to hid how much that statement had gotten under her skin, but Artemis watched Dick, whose eyes took on a look of steal.

No one else noticed, of course, but who would think that the little mathlete was even that much of a threat anyway. Artemis noted how well Dick was able to hid the rest of his reaction and emotions, she also noticed Barbara grip the boy, the other girl had also noticed the blue eyed boy's reaction.

"Oh Little Miss Scholarship didn't like that, did she?" Jeff sneered, "Didn't like to hear the truth about little old daddy? Oh to bad, everyone knows the old crack pot is off his rocker, one of these days he'll die and we might actually have a real police commissioner," and Dick jumped into action at the mention of death.

Had Artemis not been watching the boy, she would have missed the movement. She would have missed how he sprung forward and jumped into the air summersaulting **over **the older and larger boy. She watched as Jeff's gaggle of friends scattered as the former acrobat landed neatly next to them. The archer watched the bully's baffled face, not understanding where the small freshmen had gone.

A familiar cackle sounded and Artemis listened, not placing the sound, but feeling a nagging feeling in the back of her head. And she watched as the freshmen boy, at least a foot shorter than the older boy in front of him, leaned forward on his tippy toes and whispered into Jeff's ear. She couldn't make out any words but watched as the bully's face paled and he nodded his head vigorously.

After a few moments the raven haired boy pushed the older one in the small of his back, causing him to stumble forward, and Artemis watched in shock as a grinning Dick Grayson grabbed Barbara's hand a turned to wink at the archer herself.

She watched for a few moments as the ebony pulled the red head away from campus, letting go of her hand after a few moments and started rolling into cartwheels. This boy was something else.

And looking back at the retreating backs of the bullies, the archer thought that maybe just maybe she might actually enjoy herself here.

**Yes, I know slightly short compared to my other one shots, but this will probably have a lot more chapters coming. Hope you enjoyed! And please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Please, Artemis, I wish that you would just join something at this new school of yours," Artemis' dark haired mom said, exasperated at her stubborn daughter, "You might as well explore while you're there on scholarship, most of the clubs and sports are free, try to be social please!"

"Mom, please, I'm social enough and I don't have time for a sport or club with all the training at the cave," the archer shot back, stubborn as a mule.

"But non-superheroes, can you please have normal human friends? Join a team, I bet they have archery at the school," and the older woman's eyes conveyed her emotion and just how much she wanted her daughter to get out more.

"Fine, Mom, fine. I'll find some sport or something, but archery is way too obvious, I'll try, okay?" the blonde responded, clearly not able to tell her mom no when she brought out the puppy dog eyes.

"Artemis, you will one day understand just how much these friends can benefit you," and with that Artemis started her trek to school.

-BREAKLINE—

And so Artemis found herself sitting alone once more at lunch. It was a normal occurrence; she was in fact the new girl and a scholarship kid to make matters worse. And the archer had been true to her promise; she had looked at the bulletin board in the main hallway of the prestigious school that held all the clubs and activities.

She didn't really know what sport she wanted to take. She was a good runner, but did she really just want to try a little and be average. Did she want to try something new? Heck she was at Gotham freaking Academy, there wasn't anything that could be any newer to her.

But the bulletin board was full of all kind of crap that she had never thought a school could offer, I mean synchronized swimming? Really? Then of course there was all the traditional snobby sports, horseback riding, polo, and other such things.

So the archer had swiftly walked away from the overwhelming amount of colorful paper advertising the vast amount of club and sport options, and that was how she had found herself alone, once again, at a lunch table and the **huge **cafeteria that had some of the best food she had ever had, I guess rich kids have an advanced pallet…

"Artemis? Artemis Crock, right?" At this had the archer turning in confusion, after all who talked to her? Except to call her a charity case. And the blonde came face to face with none other than the red haired wonder, Barbara Gordon with her tag a long, Richard Grayson.

"Um yes?" Artemis said in her raspy voice **(A/N I really love the sound of her voice). **

"You mind if Dick and I sit here?" The red hair said with a smile, hand stretched out indicated the seats opposite the blonde at the circular table.

"No, you can sit there," the blonde said, confusion clear in her voice as she watched the two take a seat across from her, actually seeming to want to talk to her.

"Hi, I'm Barbara," the girl in question said, extending her hand out to the new kid, although Artemis had been going to school there for a few weeks now. The red head shot her ebony friend a glare when he didn't introduce himself, so with a sign she continued, "And this here is Dick, don't know why he's being a prick right now."

"Um ok," the archer responded, still slightly dumbfounded.

"It's not my fault Mr. Calloway is incompetent, we're at the best school in the state, none of the teachers should be anywhere near incompetent, but that man is so- ughh!" the blue eyed ebony exploded out, hands clinched on the table top.

Barbara rolled her eyes at her friend, but saw Artemis' look of confusion and explained, "Dickie-boy over here hates the man, mainly cause Calloway hates him back probably with every fiber of his being cause Dick is a smart-aleck. What did you do this time, Dick?" Barbara asked in exasperation at her friend's frowning face.

"It's not like its my fault," he grumbled out, not looking up from his lunch plate.

"Dick," the red haired girl said sharply, suspicion clear in her eyes.

"Well," the ebony said, raising his hand to the back of his neck with an impish grin, "He told us to try to solve the problem, in fact his exact words were, 'Class, I want you to try and see if you can begin to figure out how to solve this problem. None of you will be capable as not even PhD certified professors can usual do it, but-' and he didn't really get to finish the rest of his thought, but it was probably going to be something along the lines of the root of your thoughts needs to start here and blah blah blah with something about us not being ready."

"Let me guess, he didn't get to finish his thought cause you solved it," Barbara said dryly, a slight smile on her face that accompanied an eye roll.

"How did you guess?" the boy exclaimed in mock surprise, hand raised over his mouth, which earned him a snort from Artemis. He raised her eye brow at her with a smile, making her feel excepted into their little group, "And the answer was x equals 39 for your information," the ebony said, returning his gaze to the redhead.

"So are you like a wiz in math?" the archer asked, eye brow raised with a smirk.

"Mr. I can be nothing but a mathlete over here?" Barbara said with a chuckle, earning her a glare from a certain raven haired boy.

"Just cause I'm not doing gymnastics with you-" he began, but was interrupted by the gymnast in question.

"You basically are, I mean, you have gymnastics as your PE elective, but you're not on the team, no one else does that, in fact I don't think anyone else is allowed to do that."

"PE elective?" the archer asked, confused once again.

"Ya, certain sports have a PE class to go along with the sport, most of the classes are last block so they can just start practice early basically. But Dickie-boy can take it just cause he's Mr. Richie Rich and none of the admissions are gonna mess with the ward of Bruce Wayne."

"So you're saying if I do a sport I'll get out of my horrid PE class with all the sissies?" the blonde asked in wonder, having long gotten tired of the good for nothing kids in her PE class.

"Eh, well in theory, it just depends on the sport you chose. The sports with PE classes are gymnastics, swimming, baseball, polo, and a few other mundane sports that don't count. I'd go with gymnastics, but swimming shouldn't have too many winy people, but the gymnastics coach is pretty strict about complaining and stuff like that, so that your best bet and plus you'll see Dick and I!" Barbara said with excitement gleaming in her steal blue eyes.

"Recruiting much, Babs?" the ebony asked dryly, eyeing his red haired friend.

"Hey! You would do the same thing if you actually cared about something, and anyway I'm just telling Artemis how much she would like it!" Barbara shot back, a glare sent in Dick's direction.

"Oh so now you know what she likes? Huh?" the ebony bounced back, amusement clear in his eyes as he challenged Barbara. Artemis just watched in slight shock as they seemed to be arguing, albeit jokingly, over her.

"Oh and you do!" Barbara sharply retorted, sarcasm dripping on every word.

"Hey, um, guys-" Artemis tried to cut in but was stopped by a dramatic sign from the ebony, which only got him an eye roll from the redhead, "Um look," the blonde tried to start again, gaining some of the attention of the two, although they both kept sending glares at each other.

"There's no need to get so antsy and bicker so much," the archer continued, which got a snort out of Dick, although neither the blonde nor redhead knew why, "I'm fine with doing gymnastics, its sounds fun actually. I've been meaning to work on some areal work," Artemis continued thinking about how she needed to work on hand to hand combat and gymnastics should help with that.

"Oh really?" Dick said with a smirk and a glint in his crystal blue eyes, "What for?"

"Oh- um, I don't know," Artemis said, taken off guard with his question and it's not like she can outright say to improve hand to hand combat, "It's just something that seems cool, I mean I'm pretty athletic, so trying something new would be fun," the blonde continued with a smile that she hoped was convincing.

"Oh that cool," Barbara said with a friendly grin, but Dick's knowing smirk didn't go unnoticed to the archer, who simply chose to ignore. "Well what do you have last block today?" the red head continued, unaware of Dick's smirk.

"Oh- um French," the archer said in slight confusion.

"You think you can miss part of it to talk to the gymnastics coach?"

"Ya sure, that should be fine, I'll just have to check in with the teacher, I mean I took the class last year at Gotham North, so it's all a repeat for me," Artemis responded with a shrug.

"Great! I'll meet you outside the language classes and then I can introduce you to Coach Chase, she pretty cool for a technical school teacher," and with a grin the red head got up to throw away her remaining food causing the archer to look down at her almost untouched plate.

"See ya," Dick said with a mock two finger salute as he got up and backed away, swiftly turning on heel and finding Barbara. And the blonde archer couldn't help but grin as she watched the two leave.

**Ok so that might have just been a lot of flub but whatever, I was going to make this a super duper long chapter, but figured yall would want me to get something out sooner so here it is, the next chapter should come within the week!**

**AND I NEED HELP! I need ideas for this fic! I have a few, but I want just some Artemis Dick interactions, and once I get a few more of those I'll have a bunch of one shots of how Artemis figures out Dick is Robin!**

**SO HELP ME WITH THIS PLEASE! You can just leave your idea in a review if you want :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three **

Artemis stepped outside her French class, effectively getting out of the class without too much of a disruption. Her blonde hair flew behind her as she jogged to Barbara Gordon was to take her to meet this gymnastics coach.

The two set off in what the archer assumed was the direction of the class, as she still had no idea how to get around the maze of a school and hadn't even bothered to learn where her own classes were, opting to just following people she knew shared classes with her. But Artemis didn't know of many who took the gymnastics PE elective.

"I think you'll like Coach Chase, she's a no nonsense type of woman, pretty brusque, you remind me of her sometimes," the redhead said with a smile as she held her hand out to the huge gym before the two. Artemis barely surprised a gasp of wonder and amazement as she looked around, sure she was use to the Mountain's equipment and such, but nothing at the Mountain had so much sheer stuff devoted to one thing, that thing being gymnastics.

Balance beams lined the wall furthest from the door with an open area covered in deep blue carpet big enough for two floor exercises at once, four sets of uneven bars were to the right and two vaults were lined to the far left. There were only about thirty or so girls in the huge gym, with the exception of two coaches and Dick who idly swung on an open set of uneven bars, but hopped down with a surprisingly athletic flip and grinned with a wave as the pair entered.

"It's kinda an exclusive elective," Barbara said with a grimace, "I didn't want to scare you off earlier, but I'm sure you'll be able to make the cut, it's pretty easy!" the redhead tacked on cheerily at the end, smiling at the now slightly nervous blonde. She had to try out it seemed.

"Hey Babs! Might wanna close your mouth, don't wanna get flies in there, Arty!" the ebony boy said with a shit eating grin.

The archer snapped her mouth shut in response and glared at the younger boy but quickly did a double take and rethought what he had said, "What did you call me?"

"Arty! You don't like it?" Dick's stunning blue eyes widened in a classic puppy dog face, but his expression quickly changed to something more wicked, "Cause I've got tons more to try out, Artichoke or-"

"Shut up, Dick, I gotta take Artemis to meet Coach Chase," the redhead said briskly, taking the archer's arm and leading her away from the ebony haired boy, who had a mock frown on his pale face, but just as quickly stuck his tongue out at the two before turning and flipping away, although Artemis missed this display of acrobatics as she was too busy sizing up Coach Chase.

A woman with brown hair, pulled back in a high ponytail, was watching a girl's beam routine, her eyes crinkling and squinting at any error the girl made, although at the end she had a slight smile on her face as the girl turned to face her coach, hands still posed above her head.

"That was good, Amanda, you've got the turns down, but you still need to work on connecting each flip to make it one flowing move and not a series of handstands, but all around good work, keep practicing," and with that the brown haired woman turned to the two standing off to the side.

"Yes?" she asked, eyeing the blonde archer with interest, although her eyes were calculating the blonde's body, noticing the lean athletic shape, but well defined arm and shoulder muscles, "Who do we have here, Barbara?" the coach asked, turning to her gymnest.

"Well, Coach Chase, this is Artemis, she recently transferred here from Gotham North and she was interested in joining the team!" at the mention of interest, Artemis turned with a slight glare at the redhead, after all she could care less what team or club she joined, as long as it was something.

"Oh? _She _was interested?" the older woman asked, winking at the blonde as she spoke.

"Well- umm, maybe I decided for her," Barbara said with a shrug, not looking ashamed at all for dragging her recent friend out to the gym. This got a slight 'hmmf' of agreement from the student in question.

"Well, Artemis, what sports have you played before?" the brown haired woman still appeared to be sizing the woman up, but what the little group didn't notice was a certain ebony haired boy that was doing a routine of the beam near them, listening to every word they were speaking.

"Well- um, I don't know, I'm not really a team sport kind of person, but I'm decent at a number of sports, I'm athletic and fairly agile," the blonde said unsurely, not wanting to bring up the fact that she was one of the quickest on a superhero team, besides Robin, of course, but that was the **Batman's **protégé. And she didn't dare say a thing about archery; it would totally not help the whole secret identity thing. Although, what the archer didn't notice, was the slight grin on a certain Dick Grayson's face as he flipped back and form across a balance beam.

"Oh, well, it's not like this is a real 'team sport', as much as Miss Gordon here wants it to be," Coach Chase said with a wry grin, jabbing her thumb at the redhead, "So I just want to see you do a basic floor routine, no music or anything, I just wanna see what you've got," and with that the female turned around and gestured toward the floor, where Artemis was to apparently just start tumbling.

"Um, ok, so just kinda do some tumbling?" the blonde asked, unsurely turning back to the coach, who simply nodded her head, waiting to see.

"Don't chock, Artichoke!" the archer heard from behind her, as saw a certain ebony boy lounging against one of the beams, a shit eating grin plastered on his face, hand raised in a wave. Artemis glared at the young boy and swiftly turned on heel marching up to the floor and taking her shoes, socks and jacket off, for once glade she was wearing a skirt at least that would be easier to move in than jeans.

Taking a breath, Artemis thought back to a training session she had with Black Canary, Robin, and Wally earlier that month. They had worked on acrobatics, which Wally had failed in, and BC had been decent, but Robin easily dominated in. The training day had ended in failure, when Wally kept complaining and the group never really got any work done. The blonde now wished she had tried a little harder at the time, maybe that would help her with this.

Releasing her breath, Artemis started running forward, and jumped up starting a series of flips before ending in a tuck and roll, but before the blink of an eye, she was up again, her foot raised in a kick, long mane of blonde hair flying back as her upper body and head dipped toward the ground. Just as quickly as before, the blond pushed her leg that was up in the air behind her so that her upper body and face was now pushed toward the ground, and she extended her hands to catch her falling body in a hand stand.

In the hand stand, Artemis though about doing a split or walking but knew in the end she would screw up with her lack of practice and decided to just flip over and keep it simple. The archer ended by cartwheeling over to Coach Chase and Barbara. Although during her cartwheels, she noticed Dick, who was still leaning against a beam, a knowing smile plastered onto his face.

Slightly out of breath, Artemis stood up, slightly dizzy and hair a little disheveled. She walked over to the two waiting, hoping that her walk wasn't that wobbly, and it appeared it wasn't as Barbara smiled with a slight bit of amazement, and Coach Chase had a slight smirk on her face.

"Wow! Artemis, I didn't know you were that good! I mean ya there is big competition, but with practice you could be great!" the redhead exclaimed, a grin on her face.

"Oh, ah thanks," the blonde said, unused to people complementing her, she quickly slipped back into her shoes, but stopped when a firm had touched her shoulder.

"Don't bother putting those back on, you've got yourself a spot," and with that the infamous Coach Chase walked away from the pair to go coach another gymnast.

"This is awesome! Oh my gosh this is great!" Barbara gushed, clearly excited to be have a friend on the team, "I've gotta go change, I guess you can just skip work outs today as you don't have anything to change into, but you can just hang with Dick for today, he doesn't really do much," and Artemis watched what seemed to be her new friend sprint away to what was assumed to be the locker rooms.

"Heya!" Dick said cheerfully, walking over to the blonde in a handstand, so walking on his feet, a smirk still adoring his face, "Nice job out there," the ebony said, flipping out of his hand stand to stand next to the archer.

"Ya, thanks for all the encouragement beforehand," the blonde replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the ebony.

"Hey, there is no point in faulting me for knowing you so well," he said with his smirk still in place, blue eyes dancing with mirth as he watched the blonde's confusion.

"What? Know me so well? You don't know me at all, kid," the blonde said roughly, eyeing the boy.

"Oh really? So I didn't know that by antagonizing you would give you a reason and incentive to try hard and not screw up? I think I know you pretty well, Arty," Dick said, his grin getting larger, which only creeped the archer out. This boy was way to observant for his own good, how was he to know that much after only just meeting the archer.

"Whatever," the blonde said with a swift head turn, dismissing the boy, her hair swooshing in the air in the process.

"Hey wait one second," Dick said, something besides teasing entering his voice, and if Artemis didn't know any better, she may almost call it seriousness. The ebony boy came to stand in Artemis' line of sight, his eyes blazing with determination and something more, "You may be new here, but I know you already see it. The 'charity case' crap, so don't you dare take advantage of Barbara. There isn't a lot of girls here that are nice to her, especially since she is the top gymnast on the team, and extremely smart too, so if you do anything to hurt Barbara, weither it be intentional or not, you'll have to answer to me."

"Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" the archer asked jokingly as she thought over what the boy had said, and she watched his blue eyes darken into something rather terrifying, something that shouldn't be in any high school teenager's eyes. She could see the years the young boy before her had been through.

"Maybe," he said with a smirk, although it didn't hide the darkness in his eyes, and Artemis almost yelped in surprise as she found Dick's foot raised only inches away from her ear. She realized the boy had kicked his leg up that fast, which required quite a bit of power to get it to that speed and it required even more control to stop the leg mid swing and hold it there.

"You- you're not like everyone else here," the blonde said, eyeing they boy before her, who lowered his leg as she spoke, and Artemis didn't fail to notice is almost perfect balance. Dick cocked his head to the side in confusion, before another smirk blossomed onto his face, though his eyes showed his slight surprise and almost happiness.

"What gave it away?" the ebony asked, "Circus freak or charity case?" a smirk still classing his features.

"Your eyes," the archer stated numbly, totally surprised at how much the boy before her tried to hide and suppress his feelings and emotions. Dick, in turn, looked away, his blue eyes looking across the gym in almost longing and a good deal of sorrow.

"They always were my weakest point," he said quietly, not meaning for the blonde to hear, although deep down the ebony knew he wanted the archer to hear what he had to say. Before Artemis could formulate a reply, Dick turned away and started walking toward the uneven bars.

"Hey! Dick, wait," Artemis said, hurrying after the boy and feeling slightly ridiculous but also kind of bad, "I won't," she stated, gripping the ebony's shoulder's and turning him to face her, "I won't hurt Barbara, in any way, I promise," Artemis clarified, and she watched at the ebony's bright blue eyes danced with almost joy.

"Thanks, Arty," he said with a smile, this one fully real.

"You really care about her, don't you?" the archer asked, but with a smirk and taking a page out of the boy's book, continued, "I'd almost say that Dick-boy has a crush on Barbara! Oh is that it?" the archer said with a giggle, which turned into full out laughter when she saw the blush on the ebony's face.

"Shut up, Artichoke," he growled, stalking away to go do whatever, as Barbara had said earlier, it's not like he actually does anything in the class, well that is, of course, besides defending his best friend**s**.

**Ok so how did y'all like that?! Any more chapter ideas? Thanks to those who commented with ideas and everything! **

**So I usually don't talk about my personal life, but I'm taking the ACT this weekend, and this is my first time and I'm slightly terrified bc I don't even know what considered a 'good' score and I'm like the smart kid in my family and I'm expected to do well and I'm kinda freaked, but I have a plan: wing it**

**So anywho… Please review with anything at all! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

"ALRIGHT GIRLIES!" Called Coach Chase, effectively getting the attention of all the girl gymnasts in the last period PE class.

"Hey!" came a squeaky voice from a certain ebony haired male.

"This doesn't concern you, Richard," the older woman brushed off, not even glancing the direction of the boy in question, instead, she looked out to her gathered team in front of her; all dressed in their leotards for practice.

"This weekend is the first meet of the year, I expect all of you to be there, no and if or buts about it. Is that clear?" the stern women looked out at the teens before her, none of them batting an eye at her expectations, after all most had been on the team for years, except for a certain blonde, who was silently sputtering in the back much to her raven haired friend's amusement.

"What's wrong Arty?" Dick whispered, amusement clear in his voice and humor sparkling in his crystal blue eyes.

"N-nothing," she stuttered out, not daring to look at her friend or her coach, simply looking down with her hands clenched in fists at her side.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you might be scared of Coach Chase, now why-" the ebony began, hand raised to chin in a faux pensive look.

"Well, you do know better," the archer in civies cut in, "Mr. Creepy, you know very well that Coach Chase has my respect and nothing more or less, some coach can't just intimidate me, I'm-" Artemis sneered, glaring down at her friend who stood at least a foot shorter than her.

"You're what? Tougher than the other girls that would be scared crapless to miss a gymnastics meet? Because those bullets that you're sweating tell me differently," Dick replied with a smirk that looked all too familiar to Artemis, though she couldn't place it.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" she cried out to him, though soft enough not to draw the attention of the other girls or coach.

"Nothing," he replied innocently, not looking her way, instead keeping his eyes on the woman speaking at the front.

"Oh sur-"

"Any questions, ladies?" And with a few shakes of heads, the Tuesday gymnastics practice was beginning.

"What are we doing?" Artemis asked in panic, turning to Dick as Barbara had already run off to the beam to begin.

"Practice, duh," he replied with an eye roll and sarcastic smile.

"Dick," the older hissed, glancing around at the soon clearing warm up area.

"Fine," the ebony whined, dragging out the one word, "We are working on our worst apparatus."

"Worst?" the blonde said with a gulp, her eyes shooting over to the uneven bars across the gym.

"Arty, Arty, tisk tisk. Are you telling me that bars is your worst?" the ebony's blue eyes following his friend's to the wooden bars stationed across the gym.

"I didn't say anything," the blonde deadpanned, as she began to walk over to the bars. Her strides heavy as she knew her doom awaited her.

"Actions speak louder than words," Dick said in a sing song voice, cartwheeling after his companion.

"Go shove it where the sun don't shine," the archer growled out as she looked at the bars stationed directly in front of her. No one else seemed to have trouble with the bars besides her, for she was the only one working the apparatus.

"I can help you," Dick offered, truly meaning it and trying to be as genuine as he could.

"Oh ya right," Artemis huffed out as she chalked her hands and the bars, "You can't even spot me, shortstuff."

"Rude," he tutted as he went to the set of bars adjacent to the archer's, not bothering to chalk anything, he gripped the first one and swung up, lowering himself into a sitting position to watch his friend.

The older of the two didn't speak again as she readied herself. Stretching and warming up her shoulder and arms. And with a bound she reached and gripped the upper bar, using her momentum to swing herself up. She got into a handstand position at the top, but couldn't hold it since her legs were separated, causing her to loose balance and swing down with a flop.

With an angry huff she hopped down and tried again, but each time she had the same results of not being able to hold her handstand, and each time not getting past that part of her routine.

Finally after about ten minutes, Dick couldn't take any more, "Ok, stop," he called, a grin on his face though he shook his head in pity at his friend's struggles.

"What." Artemis gritted out, turning her glare on the ebony who just smirked in return.

"Loosen up, Arty, I'm just gonna help you," although that could be debated as there was clear amusement in the boy's crystal blue eyes.

"Ya, right, the kid that's not even on the gymnastics team and does nothing in PE. You're gonna help me?" Artemis's voice dripping in sarcasm as she turned away, looking back up to the bars and dismissing the boy.

"As it so happens, bars are my specialty in the gymnastics world," Dick said with a grin, and had Artemis not had her back turned, she would have seen the hint of sadness in the boy's cerulean eyes.

"Oh ya, specialty," she deadpanned, glancing at the boy over her shoulder to show him her eye roll.

"Fine, Arty, I get it, you don't believe what you haven't seen," and with that the ebony turned and pulled himself into a perfect handstand atop the lower uneven bars. He spun around on the lower ones a few times, perfect form as he went into a split so his feet wouldn't hit the ground as he went. The ebony flashed a grin at his companion as he let go of the bar and flew through the air, his hands somehow finding the taller bar. He kept swinging, occasionally letting go of the bar to do a flip or two but nothing extremely complicated. Finally he ended the routine with a double summersault, sticking the landing and bowing to the invisible crowd, and had his eyes been open, Artemis would have seen the look of utter joy in them.

"Fine," she growled out, as she came up next to him, "You're decent, decent enough to help me."

"Decent?" the boy asked in faux hurt, hand resting over his heart at the insult.

"I know better," the archer said with a smirk, thinking of another ebony that she knew.

"I'm sure," Dick replied with a secretive smirk that confused Artemis.

"So will you help me?" she growled out, trying to read the younger boy before her, but to no avail he just continued smirking.

"Sure, sure. And hey if I can't help you all the time, maybe that friend you know that's super good can, anyway. First we **must **start with your legs. Where did you pick up that form and technique from?"

_Mount Justice, Later that day_

"So let's see this little bar routine," Robin said dryly, eyeing his comrade as she mounted the uneven bars in the Mountain's gym.

The masked boy saw what he expected, even wincing right before she went into a handstand, knowing the end result.

"I just- ugh! I don't know," the archer growled in anger, hands clenched in anger at the fact that she was doing so poorly on the bars. "I mean, I had this friend that said he could help, but we couldn't work on anything today cause class ending and he hightailed it out of the class for some club or another, and I need to work on this."

"Breathe. Just breathe, Artemis," the Boy Wonder said calmly, walking up to his stressed teammate. Gripping her shoulders, "Look at me, it's gonna be fine, this is just some stupid sport."

"Easy for you to say," Artemis growled, brushing the younger off and going to face the bars.

"Ok, just take a break for now, tell me about this friend of yours." Robin said, trying to defuse the teen's anger and frustration.

"I don't know, just some kid I know. He's kinda a pipsqueak, but he's nice and all. He's decent at gymnastics, nowhere near as good as you are Robin," the archer added, causing a smirk from the birdie, "And he has the major crush on a mutual friend, got all protective of her and everything," and at this the Boy Wonder was at a loss of words with his pale cheeks flushed a light pink.

"Ok, ok," the younger vigilante cut in, hands raised and ending the conversation, "Let's talk gymnastics. I know you are capable of performing a bars routine, but you just need some help with form. Just keep your legs straight, and when you're in a handstand, your legs should be glued together. Funny story about that, my legs weren't actually glued, but-"

"Robin!"

"Sorry, sorry, anyway form and work-" the masked vigilante continued with a sheepish grin.

"Wait, someone glued your legs together?" the archer asked in wonder.

"No, no, of course not, they just duck taped them. Glue takes way too long to dry and is too much of a mess anyway. Now back to-"

"Someone taped your legs together?" Artemis cut in, looking at the younger in shock.

"Oh ya, training, you know, had to teach me somehow," the acrobat said with a cackle.

"Who? Batman? That Satanist, tying up the legs of poor kids."

"No, no, nothing like that," the teen said with a soft giggle, "No it was before I was Robin, it was just a training exercise for fun, and it was actually kinda fun to tell you the truth," and the archer could hear the happiness in the younger boy's voice but she couldn't see through his domino mask to see his crystal blue eyes full of sorrow and longing.

"You're so weird," Artemis said, thinking about how much the younger enjoyed the hard and near impossible training that Black Canary would sometimes dish out to the team, "And why did you train before becoming Robin?"

"Back to the technique," the Boy Wonder not so subtly changed the topic, turning away from the archer to hide his worry filled face. Batman would have his head if he knew about the slip up.

**Ok, so finally got that out there. Please Review, sorry its been so long. And next chapter will be the gymnastics meet! Get pumped! **

**Please review with any new ideas! **

**Love yall! –C **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five **

"What's got you all twitchy?" Kid Flash mocked, looking across the bioship to Artemis who had been fidgeting the whole ride home from the mission. The time had kicked some butt as usual, and of course gave away their covert mission, having everything go to hell but in a good way.

"Nothing, Kid Mouth," the archer ground out, glancing out the window in hopes of seeing the Mountain come into sight. Aqualad gave his female teammate a worried look, thinking something might be wrong for her to act like this, while Robin sat behind her with a huge smirk on, though no one looked back to see it.

"Got somewhere to be, Arty?" the Boy Wonder whispered for only the archer to hear, glee filling his voice as he snickered.

"Maybe," she mumbled out, not turning to the little bird, instead crossing her arms over her chest and slouching down to tap her foot impatiently on the floor of the ship. This received Robin's signature cackle as he leaned back in his chair, eyeing his anxious teammate.

"When was the gymnastics meet you were talking about?" he called, loud enough to grab the attention of the whole ship, earning him and Artemis a few curious and confused looks.

"Today," she mumbled out, not loud enough for anyone but the Boy of Steel to hear.

"What was that?" the teen acrobat called louder, putting his comrade on the spot, although he knew full well when his classmates were having their first big meet.

"Today!" she barked at the Boy Wonder, turning around fully to look at him, glaring full out, but also knowing in the back of her mind it was nothing compared to the Batglare.

"Hey now, don't get all snippy with me. Stay whelmed, man," the bird feigned innocence as a not so innocent grin came on his face.

"Stay whelmed my-" the archer began, ready to get out of her chair and smack the grin right off her teammates face.

"Artemis!" Aqualad chastised loudly, getting her attention, "Language please."

"Oh that right," the girl responded sarcastically, eyes pointedly looking at Robin, "I forgot, there are children here, although how could I? I mean, look-"

"Age is but a number, young grasshopper," the Boy Wonder said in an utterly serious voice, "And actions speak much louder than words," he continued, domino mask facing the blonde's brown eyes.

"That didn't even make sense, Boy Blunder," she spat out, nose scrunched up in annoyance at the ebony haired vigilante.

"Oh look!" the acrobat said, grabbing the attention of everyone in the ship, "We're here!" he called with a grin, flipping off his chair to wait for the ship door to open, smirk firmly in place.

"Finally," the blonde called, running forward and pushing past the ebony as she ran to the zeta tubes to leave, forgoing debriefing all together.

"Prissy," Kid Flash said as he slouched off to the kitchen, going to muster up a meal of some sort.

"Robin," Kadlur called as he walked off the ship, him and the Boy Wonder the last to make it out of the air craft hanger in the Mountain.

"You were trying to distract Artemis, were you not?" the Atlantian asked, his formal voice ringing through the near empty room.

"Can't be nervous before a gymnastics meet," the younger vigilante said with a grin, he dropped to the floor in a handstand and kept walking on his hands beside his leader, "And when it comes to gymnastics it's all in Arty's head, she'd royally screw up if she was nervous."

"That was kind of you," the Atlantian observed as he looked down at his younger teammates face.

"No biggie, plus I need to hurry off anyway. Gotham awaits!" and with a backflip and mock salute, the Boy Wonder was cartwheeling down the hallway to the zeta tubes.

_Gymnastics Meet in Gotham _

"Where have you been, Artemis?" Barbara Gordon asked in slight anger, "The meet is about to start!"

"Sorry, sorry, I had to take care of some things at home," the blonde responded as she stretched with the rest of her team.

"It's okay, sorry I'm so snippy, I just feel kinda nervous," the redhead said breathlessly as she scanned the crowd, "My dad couldn't make it, and I don't think Dick's coming either," she continued sadly, eyes still roaming.

"You'll do great, you're amazing and I'm sure Dickie boy has a reason for missing," Artemis replied, thinking about how protective the ebony was over the redhead.

"That was great, Artemis!" Barbara said as she hugged her teammate, who had just come off the bars. The blonde had did great on her routine, and although it had been simply, she still did extremely well.

"It's almost your turn," the archer returned, smiling at her friend, "And I think Dick is here, I saw some pipsqueak in the crowd earlier, figured it was him or someone's elementary sibling."

"Artemis!" she said with a grin, swatting her fast becoming best friend as they walked to the entrance of the gym, and as she turned to face her friend, something came flying at her from the side.

"Charity case," a girl said, glaring at the redhead as she screwed on the top of her water bottle. The water having landing and soaked Barbara, who looked at the girl in utter shock.

"Hey!" came a voice from the entrance of the gym, and none other than Dick Grayson himself came storming up to the group of three, glaring daggers at the unfamiliar girl who flipped her hair with a hmf and sauntered off to her seat.

"That bitch," Artemis spat out, as she turning, trying to spot the girl that had disappeared into the bleachers.

"Are you okay, Babs?" the short ebony asked, voice laced with concern that partially concealed the complete rage he was feeling. Although, Artemis could see the rage the young boy felt, and was surprised he didn't attack anyone.

"I'm okay, I'm good," the redhead chocked out, blinking from the shock of being drenched with water, but her head suddenly shot up, "I have to go do bars! Now!" she said and she rushed over to the finally apparatus.

"I'm sorry, miss," came a crew member, stopping Barbara in her fast walk, "But you can't use any of the equipment wet."

"But! But I have to do a routine, I'm next! If I miss it, they'll just skip me!" the redhead sputtered, eyes frantically searching for Coach Chase.

"You can't, take it up with the judges," he said, though the trio could tell he didn't really care what happened to the anxious teen in front of him. Barbara spotted her coach and rushed over, frantically talking to her while motioning to the judges table. The two of them quickly rushed to the judges table and began talking once more.

"You think they'll let her perform?" Artemis asked Dick, the two of them having stayed back a couple feet from the table, not wanting to get in the way.

"I don't know, if she can change yes, but if not…" the shorter trailed off, looking at his flustered red haired friend, "And I don't know, she's the last one to perform on bars so they can't wait and put her at the end, so who knows."

"God, this sucks," the blonde growled out, hands forming into fists in anger at her friends hardships.

The two suddenly looked up when they heard Coach Chase raise her voice at the judges before her. They watched as the usually put together coach glared down at the seated judges, quickly talking to them in pure rage. The woman was momentarily distracted when Barbara put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head. The coach and her student started walking away from the judges table, the older woman having a look of defeat on her face and the teen just looking sad and put out.

"No, no this is not happening," Artemis growled out, and stormed by the pair headed her way, she looked down at the slightly surprised judges and opened her mouth to start hollering, but stopped when she felt a hand rest on her forearm.

"Let me handle this," Dick said softly, having followed the blonde over. In that one sentence, the archer could hear all the rage within him bubbling up, but his face was mask of blankness as he looked at the judges before him.

"I understand that you can not let Barbara perform, and I know that it's important to maintain and properly use equipment, but she can easily change into another leotard. That wouldn't be too hard?" the ebony asked kindly, totally masking his anger.

"I'm sorry, young boy, but we can't, we can't delay the meet like that, so if you would please-" one of the judges began, trying to dismiss the ebony.

"If not Barbara, then can someone perform in her place?"

"This is a small meet, everyone had to perform on each apparatus, so everyone has performed," another judge stated, trying desperately to end the conversation.

"Then could I perform in her place?" Dick asked, eyes large and hopeful.

"You?" the first judge called, amusement clear in his voice, "Some kid of the street, look it's nice to see that you are interested, but you can't just come in here and perform," and this did not bode well with the young ebony, not at all in fact.

"Yes, me," Dick spit out, crystal eyes hardening and becoming cold, showing his rage at the judges, "Do you even know who you're talking to?" the boy paused for a moment and when no one answered continued, "Dick Grayson, the **last **Flying Grayson of Haly's Circus," he spit out at the judges before him.

"And I will perform in Barbara Gordon's place, because let's not forget who my father is," the boy said in a deadly voice, looking each judge in the eye. With that he turned on heel and went over to the bars, although his blonde companion followed him.

"Whoa, Grayson, pulling the daddy card now," Artemis commented as she walked her friend take of his socks and shoes.

"You would too if you could," the boy murmured, knowing all about the archer's father.

"What was that?" Artemis asked, truly not having heard the boy.

"Just a nice card to have, Arty, right?" he said with a grin, catching the girl's nervous look at having been asked indirectly about her father. "Of course, it helps if your father or adopted father is a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," the younger continued with a smirk, breaking the tension between the two.

"Ya, Richie Rich," the archer mumbled, glaring at the boy as he chalked his hands, "Are you really gonna do this? No offense but Barbara is really good at bars, and you are, well, decent. Those judges looked scared crapless, you can't just come out and do some child's routine."

"Oh don't worry, Goddess of the Moon," the boy said airily, "I have it covered."

"Goddess of the Moon? That's a new one," the blonde commented, making a note to tell Robin who had called her Goddess of the Hunt, Goddess of Archery, and Goddess of Virgins, the last having made her blush incredibly, much to the Boy Wonder's amusement.

The young acrobat sent one last glare to the judges before whirling round to face the uneven bars. A small grin was on his face as he surged forward, using a springboard to summersault over the lower bar and grip the higher bar. He began swinging around a few times before releasing and doing two summersaults over the top bar ending when his hands found the lower bar. He swung around the lower bar a few times before stopping in a perfect handstand on top.

His eyes were closed as he lowered his legs into a split and held it, and suddenly he snapped them up into a straight handstand eyes opening as he bright his legs down between his arms on the bar. He stood up from his position, no wobbling a bit. His back was to the higher bar and his arms began to rise above his head as his eyes slowly closed once more.

The ebony crouched down a bit before suddenly springing off the lower bar and flipping back in midair to grip the higher bar. He performed a few more releases with only a twist or flip in each before finally starting his dismount. His swings around the bar starting become more and more rapid as he gained momentum and finally he let go.

Artemis watched her friend, her mind slowing it down to slow motion as she saw his eyes closed tightly but a knowing smirk adoring his face. She watched in astonishment as her small ebony haired classmate turning in four summersaults before slamming onto the ground.

She watched as a wave of impact racked through his whole body with his hands out in front of him and knees slightly bent and she watched as her friend landed and stuck a should be impossible trick.

The archer didn't hear at all the crowd go wild around her, she didn't notice everyones shocked faces filled with wonder. All she noticed was the look of absolute joy in her ebony friend's eyes. She saw him turn to her and a twinkle of amusement entered his eyes with his signature smirk still on.

"Told you I had it covered, Arty," he said with a cackle, and had Artemis not been so shocked at what she had just seen, she would have been able to place that cackle, but as it was she was still recovering.

**So out there real quick, this one, eh? What you think? Please review!**

**And OH MY GOSH I LOVE YALL! I have some of the best reviewers ever, all of yall are so so sweet! Thank you, please know that each of the reviews has really really helped and encouraged me, they mean so much! **

**AND how would y'all like if the next chapter was all Robin Artemis interactions and no Dick? **

**Thanks so so much, to everyone! God bless! –C **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six **

"This is a covert mission, only," Batman emphasized in his gravelly tone as he looked at the group of sidekicks before him. The Dark Knight was of course thinking back on all the team's other covert missions that hadn't ended so covertly.

"Partner off for each position, decide this before you arrive. Dismissed," and with a swift turn and swish of a black cape, the Caped Crusader was off, leaving his little bird with the rest of the young heroes.

"We shall decide partners and positions on the bioship, is everyone prepared to take off?" Kaldur spoke, switching into leader instantly after the team's dismissal. With various nods of approval or spoken answers, the group of teens headed for the bioship.

_On the Bioship, discussing positions _

"I'm just saying that I'm always the one to scout out ahead, it only makes sense for me to do it on this mission too," Kid Flashed whined, after having a bit of objection from the team's female archer.

"Not on this one," Artemis began, but was cut off by the Speedster.

"And what do you know? Replacement," the red head spat bitterly, though Artemis knew that he didn't really mean much by the overused insult.

"Artemis is right, Kid Mouth," Robin's voice rang out, grabbing the attention of everyone on the ship. His all-knowing smirk appearing on his face as he faced his best friend. "It may have made sense for you to scout out ahead when we were in the jungle and you didn't have to blend in as well, but we are going to New York City, you won't exactly blend in."

"And how would-" the red haired speedster began, trying to fight his case.

"I would know because I am the protégé of the World's Greatest Detective and because of the fact that anyone knows that you don't have an ounce of covert or secretive in you," the young ebony acrobat rattled off, effectively shutting down his best friend's argument, "And anyway, I think that Artemis and I should partner up to scout out ahead. We are both the most street savvy and with her archer's eye and my bat eye, we will be able to pick up on the most details that someone else might overlook," and now the Boy Wonder looked rather pleased with himself, although this wouldn't be the first time he won an argument such as this.

"I think this would be wise," Aqualad spoke up before Kid Flash had a chance to open his mouth, "I agree that Artemis and Robin would both blend in very well, and they would know how to act, as for breaking into the building, I believe it should be Miss Martian and myself with Kid Flash and Superboy keeping lookout," the Atlantian concluded in his formal way of speaking.

"We are about five minutes away," Miss Martian's sugary sweet voice rang out as she steered the invisible bioship toward the Big Apple.

"Artemis and Robin, you both shall be dropped off first, prepare to disguise yourself as a civilian. You know which building to be watching, take notice of anyone that goes in or out."

_New York Café, outside _

"So do you have any idea what we are looking for?" Artemis asked as she adjusted the leather jacket she was wearing. She couldn't see past the Boy Wonder's dark shades and couldn't read his eyes.

"Anyone that doesn't look like they are feeling the aster," the ebony haired vigilante in civies said offhandedly as he gazed at all the people around him. His hands resting in the depths of his black jacket, feeling the bird-a-rangs he had stashed away.

"It's New York, no every looks happy," the archer deadpanned as she looked around at all the busy people, moving about their day, always in a rush or hurry.

"Better than Gotham," the teen acrobat shot back playfully, noticing a group of men walking oddly close to the building the two were watching. "Group at your ten o'clock, notice the baggy close, great for concealing weapons," the ebony cut in, stopping Artemis from shooting a sarcastic comment back at him.

"Be prepared for anything," he whispered as he brought his coffee to his lips, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"Or just some grumpy guys passing by," Artemis prattled off, watching as the group continued down the street.

"Or not," the Boy Wonder said softly, hand going up to his ear. He pretended to scratch it as he let out," Robin to Aqualad, the building appears to have been bugged just now. The bugging looked too small to do anything more than listen in through the walls, and very poorly at that. Robin out."

"Aqualad copies," rang clearly thought the ears of both the archer and the acrobat.

"How did you notice that?" Artemis asked astounded that the teen beside her could tell that from a distance as great as theirs.

"Don't feel too bad, Arty," the ebony let out with a flashed grin as his faced turned partially away, so that the archer could only see his profile, "These lenses can do a lot more than shade my eyes from the sun and keep my identity on the DL."

"Hm? Really? Now what else can they do, Robby Bird?" the archer asked playfully, smile on her face as she tried to pass the time.

"You know the basics," the teen replied back, just as sarcastic as his female friend, "We've got the night vision, the zooming feature, and a few others that I'll just keep to myself for now," the ebony concluded with a knowing grin. Artemis' only response was a snort as she turned away from her partner to look at the building.

After about a half hour of watching, the little bird came up with a fun idea as he looked at his blonde comrade. A friend to both his identities.

"It's nice," he said thoughtfully, looking out at all the people surrounding him.

"What?" the archer rasped out, not turning to look at the ebony acrobat.

"Blending in," was his only reply.

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked, totally confused, though she didn't care enough about what the teen was blabbering on about, it was nice just having the space between them filled with words.

"To go unnoticed like this, to not have people stop and look at you like some kind of circus freak," the ebony said offhandedly, calculating the archer's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm still lost," the blonde said, giving the acrobat her full attention to show him that she was listening.

"Well it's just that, being who I am, it's hard to just people watch and live a quiet life," and although the ebony teen was playing with his friend, he did mean what he was saying.

"Being who you are? As in Robin? Partner to the Dark Knight?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Well, the civilian me as well. Weather I'm wearing a mask or nothing at all, I can't exactly go under the radar. I stand out wherever I go really, that why it's nice. Sitting here, no one has stopped and tried to talk to me or please me yet, it's nice," the Boy Wonder said thoughtfully, sounding wiser beyond his years.

"The civilian you?" Artemis asked, knowing they were getting into shady territory talking about his secret identity.

"Yes," the teen replied softy, still gauging the archer for her reaction.

"Are you getting deep and profound on me?" the blonde deadpanned. Face as serious as it could be, "Because, I've had enough seriousness to last a life time, thank you very much, so please whoever you are, leave so I can have my stupid goofy Robin back."

"I am not stupid, how dare you say such a thing!" the Boy Wonder exclaimed in mock hurt, eyes never leaving the streets around him.

"Nice of you to join me," Artemis said sarcastically with a laugh as she turned away from her partner to look at the busy street.

"As nice as this has been," the acrobat began, hand lifting to his ear, "Robin to Aqualad, three men just went around back, prepare to leave. Robin out."

"What?" the archer sputtered, looking to the building, but knowing the three men were long gone by then, "How did you notice them?" she asked confused, thinking that the acrobat had been totally focused on their conversation.

"The art of multy tasking is a fine form of art indeed," the teen vigilante said sardonically, "An art that you have only a small knowledge of, but a knowledge greater than most of the other member of this team," the boy concluded with a smirk shared between the two as they got up to meet at the rendezvous point.

The art of multy tasking was a fine art, mastered through hard work. Something the two knew all too well about. After all, the art of being human was an even finer form of art.

**So how did you like it? I just wanna say that all of you reviewers are totally awesome! Sorry I didn't include any Dick in this chapter, and sorry it was a tad short, but I liked ending it on that note! **

**Any other ideas?! I think I'm gonna have Dick and Babs in a fight, like a cold shoulder, not talking to you type with Artemis stuck in the middle. **

**Review with anything you might wanna see! **

**Oh and heyo, I just posted a new story! Its gonna be the team training their brains! **

**Love y'all, God Bless! –C **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Dickie boy," Artemis said as greetings to her ebony friend when they met at their lunch table.

"Artichoke, and I prefer Dickie Bird, if you must know," the younger prattled off with a knowing grin. He started to pick at his lunch, seeing if the blonde would have some sort of reaction to the drop of the word bird, but as it was she was too occupied in looking around the lunch room.

"Have you seen Barbara?" the older female said offhandedly, still not giving the ebony much attention.

"Oh, ya she was eating outside with Bette," Dick replied with a small frown, looking down at his lap.

"Why she eating outside? I thought she didn't really get along with anyone else."

"The gymnastics team felt bad for what happened to her at the meet, so they are buddying up to her," Dick answered, feeling slightly down at the thought that his best friend might be leaving him to go hang out with others, "And I think I pissed her off."

"What? What did you do?" Artemis demanded, slightly angry that Dick might have made sweet Barbara upset in anyway.

"I didn't do anything," the ebony said stubbornly, not meeting the archer's eyes, "She was mad cause I performed at the meet," he said softly, looking at all the busy teens around him and how their eyes would always flash away from him when he looked.

"Why was she mad?"

"I don't know, she didn't say. Maybe she was jealous or something, how should I know?"

"Jealous? Barbara?" Artemis asked in disbelief, looking at the young teen before her who stubbornly looked away from her, "That doesn't sound like her at all, are you sure you didn't do anything else? You didn't say anything carelessly and offend her?"

"NO! Ok? I don't know, just ugh," and with that the ebony haired boy picked up his lunch and stalked out the lunch room, not feeling like trying to explain himself to the blonde. She should have sided with him in this, Barbara was being ridiculous.

_Mount Justice, Training Room _

Artemis walked into the training room area to see that it was already taken. She had wanted to go in to work on her hand to hand combat skills, as that was what she was lacking in, but it seemed the Boy Wonder was trying to work on his stamina or something.

He had set the work out drones that they rarely used up. There was at least fifteen of them, and by the swiftness they moved and attacked the bird, it seemed they were set at a high level if not the highest level of difficulty possible.

The ebony vigilante had just kicked one drone in its robot face as he flipped over another, kicking it in the back of the head as he went and landing in a handstand. But before he lost the momentum of the flip, he hand kicked his legs out to hit another drone square in the chest, sending the drone to the ground as he flipped over the falling piece of metal. He was panting hard as he looked at the drones scattered across the floor before him, the ground lighting up telling the vigilante that he effectively defeated them.

The archer gave a low whistle as she looked at the sight before her. The teen acrobat didn't turn around to face her, instead stalking forward to the computer and typing away furiously.

"You can use the training room now," he growled out, "But Black Canary isn't here, so you won't be able to practice hand to hand combat." How the ebony knew that it was Artemis that had whistled and that she had wanted to work on that would be a mystery to everyone.

"Um, ok," she sputtered out, taken back the bluntness of the usually cheerful and playful Boy Wonder, "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bird's nest, this morning," she said quietly as she walked over to the other side of the room, intent on just going to the gym to run.

"I heard that," Robin said sharply, but he finally turned around to face the archer, "I could help you with hand to hand," he said as he looked at his friend, who he couldn't take his anger out on as Robin, it would make no sense to the archer, after all how was she to know that she had upset him while he was a civilian?

"Um, okay. You sure about that?" the blonde asked apprehensively. She should be able to take him, but she wasn't stupid enough to think that age mattered all that much, especially when you had been partnered to Batman for four years.

"Promise I won't kill you," the ebony replied with a sly smirk, seeing the archer's hesitation.

"Oh, that reassuring," Artemis deadpanned, though a grin graced her face as she stepped onto the glowing ground, awaiting the Boy Wonder.

"What to start with?" Robin asked, a pensive look on his face as he brought his hand up to stroke his chin in a thoughtful look. Artemis rolled her eyes at his antics, and almost missed his quick movement as he launched forward at her. She only had enough time to register his attack before she felt his feet hook behind her legs and she would have laughed if she wasn't falling because in the moment that his foot kicked out her knees, he was almost an inch away from her, but his eyes reached her chin at best.

"Reflexes it is," the teen acrobat cried with his signature cackle, reaching down to help up his fallen comrade.

"Prick," Artemis growled out, though she had a slight grin on her face, because the fall didn't really hurt anything besides her pride, but she wasn't bigheaded enough to care.

"Slow, Arty, I thought you archer's had asterous reflexes," the ebony haired vigilante said with a grin.

"We do, not when we are relaxed. I didn't exactly expect an attack from a friend," she said with a half glare at the shorter.

"But friend can easily become foe and foe can easily become friend," the Boy Wonder said, though his eyes bored into the blonde, but she couldn't see them through his domino mask.

"Enough with the Wise Words from Robin crap, let's get to training, good old fashion hand to hand combat," she cut in, feeling uncomfortable with where the Boy Wonder might be going, images of her past surfacing in her mind.

"Hand to hand? Hmmm," the ebony acrobat thought again, humming out a tune or two as he regarded the teen in front of him.

"So you," he motioned with his hand at Artemis, "want me," he pointed to himself, being exasperatingly slow, "to help you," again he motioned for the blonde, "with hand to hand combat?" at this last statement he brought his hands into fists in front of his face, one eye brow up in a questioning notion, as though the thought was outlandish.

"Yes, is it that hard to understand?" the blonde let out, getting fed up with the Boy Wonder's annoyingness.

"I guess, I could help you," he said, face thoughtful again.

"Hey! Wait a second! You're the one that offered in the first place!" the archer cried out, looking in slight outrage at the teen before her.

"I suppose I did," he said softly with a faux sad smile.

"Damn spiffy," Artemis growled out, barely restraining herself from grabbing the young teen by the color of his bright uniform.

"Damn spiffy? That's a new one," the ebony let out, making the archer go slightly red at her choice of words, "Now, on to hand to hand. My specialty you know. Well there is a reason BC never really wants to fight me in it, doesn't wanna be owned at her own game. You know-"

"Robin!" Artemis cut in exasperated, not really caring to hear another story.

"Sorry, sorry, where to start? Let's see…"

_About two hours later _

"I thought you said you wouldn't kill me?" Artemis groaned as she lay out on the glowing floor. A bubble circling her showing her defeat, thought that had happened about five minutes ago and she had yet to get up.

"You're still breathing," the other teen deadpanned, as he stood over the archer, but decided to instead sit criss cross next to her. Folding his lower body neatly on the floor with a flourish.

"Oh, hardy har har," the archer let out sarcastically, head dropping to the floor, too tired to hold it up any longer.

"Lighten up, Arty," he said with a smirk, his hands moving to his wrist computer.

"Speaking of lightening up," Artemis began, though she didn't look at Robin, "What had your spandex in a not earlier?"

"Nothing," the little bird said lightly, his voice not betraying an ounce of his discomfort.

"Ya? Nothing? Raging like that?" the blonde went on, eye brows lifting up her face in exaggerated disbelief, though she still wouldn't look at the boy in question.

"Ya, nothing," Robin replied, his voice still even.

"Oh ya? Something happen with a DaddyBats?" the archer let out with a snort, "Or did your super-secret girlfriend break up with you? Is there a Girl Wonder? A Raven? Another little birdie Batman has hidden away?"

"It has nothing to do with my Robin persona," the Boy Wonder let out, knowing his teammate wouldn't shut up unless he gave her something.

"Ohhhh! The civilian you? Is Mr. Tough guy getting bullied or something?" Artemis let out with a grin, not knowing how accurate she was, "Or did you have a fall out with a friend? Maybe a lady friend, girlfriend, even," the archer went on, thinking about her civilian life and friends.

"Nothing, drop it," Robin's monotone voice slightly terrified her in that instant. His voice didn't leak any of the rage that he felt, but instead was void of any emotion whatsoever. His voice chilled her a little, in fact. "I have to go patrol," his monotone voice came out again as he got up, heading for the zeta tubes and leaving the archer slightly stunned.

**So what you think? Artemis stuck in the middle of Dick and Babs? What's really got Babs all upset? And this is really becoming long guys, I went into this with the intent to really not go anywhere, but how life can change sometimes. **

**And do you want me to bring some of the bullying aspects back into this? And I'm gonna try to include more Wally, but he might not come for a few more chapters. **

**Any more suggestions? I'm always open to them! Review, please! **

**Love yall, thanks everyone for reviewing, and God bless! -C**


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